Alright guys, help me out here. Trying to research my not toooo distant build here. What is the major difference between and aftermarket "traditional" head and a vortech head? I know that obviously a vortech upgrade is much better than my stock L98s, but if I'm gonna upgrade anyway, would a "good" traditional head be better? Iron Eagles? Maybe sportsmans? There's plenty of others of course.

Does that make sense? Bedget is around $1000 for heads.

 

vortec heads are the best factory heads there are really, but a factory head is still not as great as an aftermarket head.

If you use vortec heads (factory ones), you'll still need to have guide bosses machined, screw in studs, etc etc. You could save the machine work and buy aftermarket vortecs that are pre-machined, and those go for roughly the same $ as a 'traditional' aftermarket head. However you'd still be running a factory head.

I think in your case, an aftermarket set of traditional heads are the better bet. Iron eagle, maybe RHS, edelbrock, sportmans, lots of choices, for sure.

 

What is your goal with the head swap?

I built a 350 vortec engine for a good friends 78 vette with a mild comp xe262 cam and dual plane intake. That engine runs great and pulls hard. I was very impressed with the part throttle driveability and mid-range power also.

It's probably going to be close to your budget. The required intake alone for a TPI is around $400. You can pick up a set of used a/m heads that would re-use your old intake and get in under budget pretty easily.

 

Well i figure I'll need another intake regardless, whether it be a SDPC TPI base or a Eddy TPI base.

....It's gonna be a street motor for sure. Limited 1/4 mile runs if at all. I'm keeping the TPI for aesthetics, so I'd like to build the motor around the low rpm charachteristics of the TPI. Flat "mid range" curve is better than a HIGH peaky curve, ya know?

 

I'd say go for traditional heads, then you don't have to take anything to a machine shop, or replace any parts of the intake manifold.

Dart makes very good heads, so does TrickFlow as well though. You can get a set of aluminum TFS heads for around $1000, maybe a little over that.